Box Score BECKLEY, W. Va. – Behind a huge offensive first inning and a patented start on the mound from senior pitcher
Ryan Weatherholtz, the Concord University baseball team opened Mountain East Conference Tournament play with a 14-0, shutout-victory over Notre Dame College Thursday at Epling Stadium in Beckley, W. Va.
Concord moves on to face West Virginia State 7:00 p.m. Friday. Notre Dame will play for its tournament life in an elimination game against West Liberty 11:00 a.m. Friday.
With the win Concord improved to 37-14 on the season, breaking the single-season school record for victories. Notre Dame dropped to 24-21 with the defeat.
Seven Concord players tallied multi-hit games. The trio of senior outfielder
Bret Blevins, junior second baseman
Jerrod Groves and sophomore outfielder
Andrew Seigel all registered three-hit games with Blevins and Seigel coming away with four and three RBI, respectively. After his big day, Blevins now has 271 career hits, five shy of tying the school record of 276 held by Donovan Huffer.
Newly crowned MEC Player of the Year
Joey Miller went 2-for-5 with one double and a pair of RBI. Junior third baseman
Ryan Johnston and sophomore shortstop
Brad Sullivan also notched 2-for-5 performances which included three RBI from Sullivan.
Weatherholtz increased his record to 8-4 on the season after throwing seven innings of six-hit, shutout baseball that included three strikeouts. Weatherholtz, a first team All-MEC honoree, has now won five consecutive starts and allowed just two runs over his last 32.2 innings pitched.
The Mountain Lions wasted little time making a statement early in a nine-run first inning that saw Concord bat around on the way to producing 10 hits and taking advantage of one Falcon error to gain the early separation.
The inning featured 14 Concord plate appearances as well as two hits and three RBI from Blevins, who extended his season-long hitting streak to 20 games Thursday. Miller (two), Sullivan (two), Camp (one) and Groves (one) each produced RBI in the frame.
With Weatherholtz unthreatened by the Notre Dame offense all day, the Concord bats continued to extend its lead via four more runs in the seventh off of a three-run triple from Seigel and a sacrifice fly from Blevins in addition to a score in the eighth when Sullivan slapped in an RBI-single that plated Johnston.
Junior relief pitcher
Barinder Rakkar finished the game by scattering two hits in the eighth and ninth inning to close out the victory.
Concord has now won nine consecutive postseason games played at Epling Stadium dating back to the 2011 season.
Â
